New Orleans – At first it just seemed that the Wal-Mart in New Orleans’ Lower Garden District was doing a very brisk post-hurricane business Tuesday: The parking lot was full, people were leaving with brimming baskets, and city police and firefighters were there as if to oversee it all.
But people weren’t going through the front door. They were squeezing between boards meant to protect the now-shattered glass from Hurricane Katrina’s winds. One man was packing his van so full of computers, televisions and DVD players that he had trouble closing the rear doors. One woman was carrying three jugs of laundry detergent in a city with no power to run a washer.
As in other cities devastated by Hurricane Katrina, as in so many past disasters elsewhere when crisis and chaos have replaced order and normalcy, an already beleaguered New Orleans was beset by looters.
The widespread plundering started before Katrina had finished its onslaught Tuesday. That afternoon, looters broke into an emptied sporting-goods warehouse in Mid-City, a grocery store in Treme, and the hardware center Uptown. In one instance, witnesses said, police were called but did nothing until one man shot another.
People said they’d heard that Wal-Mart had opened its doors to provide supplies for law-enforcement agencies sheltering the 10,000-plus people in the Louisiana Superdome. A Wal- Mart spokeswoman, Sharon Weber, said law enforcement, emergency management teams and relief agencies have “unwritten permission” to help themselves to whatever they need from Wal-Mart stores in times of crisis but that standard procedure is for the police or aid officials to “leave us a list of what they take so they can pay us later.”
At the Lower Garden District Wal-Mart, among the items seen being loaded into police cars were T-shirts, DVDs and dog food.
But when law-enforcement officials went to get their goods, others – people of all ages and races – followed.
“They just came, and no one could stop them,” said David Brown, 38, a Port of New Orleans employee.
Brown and a co-worker were filling their vehicle with dozens and dozens of canned goods – stews and chilis and Spaghetti-O’s. Brown said the food would be used to feed the port’s police and its employees, many of whom, like him, had worked nonstop since Saturday.
They were taking only essentials, he said, although a copy of Queen Latifah’s “Beauty Shop” movie had apparently made that list.
Most streets in New Orleans were empty Tuesday except for the hub around the Wal-Mart, in a section of the city that remained dry.
People were everywhere; in cars and trucks, pushing goods in carts and baby carriages, dragging full trashcans and laundry baskets.
The steady stream of cars caused a traffic jam on the streets near the store – the type of traffic jam last seen here when people tried to evacuate.
“Is everything free?” asked a woman who pulled up in a red car.
Hearing “yes,” she started to chant, “TV! TV! TV!”
Inside, a teenage boy held up a pair of blue lacy panties and snickered, “I want to see somebody in these so bad,” before tossing them in his basket.
Another man used a table to break into one of the last unscathed jewelry cases. A little girl balanced atop a cart filled with cases of beer.
A rumor that the National Guard had arrived sent people running toward the store’s exit, shouting, “Come on! Come on!” But no one put down any merchandise, and the Guard rumor turned out to be false.
Some shoppers were oddly selective. One woman said she was taking only facial-care products. Another was pushing a cart filled with silk roses and baby’s breath. In the pharmacy aisle, she leaned over the handle, pushing it slowly as she read labels the way a paying customer would.
But the overwhelming feeling was one of chaos – angry shouting, carts ramming, fast grabbing. When a teenage girl passed out face down between the baby clothes and a women’s sock display, people pushed past or stepped on her.
Joseph LoCascio, of Picayune, Miss., stopped to try to help the girl. He rolled her over, and she vomited pink liquid all over her face and hair. He then rolled her back.
“This is (messed) up,” he said. “… People just walking around like they don’t care. All they’re worried about is getting free bulls- instead of a human life.” He and his friend Sandi Nolan, 21, of Baton Rouge, La., tried to revive the girl by pouring water, Gatorade and soda over her face and neck. It only left her shirt and hair soaked.
LoCascio tried to get a man wearing a firefighter T-shirt to treat the girl, but the man hesitated, saying, “She’s breathing. If I took her, where would I take her?” About 15 minutes later, a firefighter medic arrived and began checking the girl. Still, LoCascio and Nolan were furious at their fellow looters.
Both have infants being treated at Children’s Hospital, New Orleans, and had come to get baby food and supplies.
“I’ve never seen people like this. I have drinks and chips, things I need,” Nolan said. “They’re getting chainsaws and fishing poles, anything they can get for free.” As she and LoCascio left, she noticed he had at least a dozen DVDs in his basket, as well as baby formula and baby food. She laughed and pointed it out to him.
“They’re for the kids, so they can watch them,” he said. “Things like “Finding Nemo.” Nolan laughed. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I got a few, too.”
